If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their great sketch, "Who's on First?" might have turned out something like this:

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?COSTELLO: Thanks I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about buying a computer.ABBOTT: Mac?COSTELLO: No, the name's Lou.ABBOTT: Your computer?COSTELLO: I don't own a computer. I want to buy one.ABBOTT: Mac?COSTELLO: I told you, my name's Lou.ABBOTT: What about Windows?COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?COSTELLO: I don't know. What will I see when I look at the windows?ABBOTT: Wallpaper.COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.ABBOTT: Software for Windows?COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business . what do you have?ABBOTT: Office.COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?ABBOTT: I just did.COSTELLO: You just did what?ABBOTT: Recommend something.COSTELLO: You recommended something?ABBOTT: Yes.COSTELLO: For my office?ABBOTT: Yes.COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?ABBOTT: Office.COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows.COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, let's just say I'm sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. Just what do I need?ABBOTT: Word.COSTELLO: What word?ABBOTT: Word in Office.COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue "W".COSTELLO: I'm going to click your blue "w" if you don't start with some straight answers. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with?ABBOTT: Money.COSTELLO: That's right. What do you have?ABBOTT: Money.COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer.COSTELLO: What's bundled with my computer?ABBOTT: Money.COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?ABBOTT: One copy.COSTELLO: Isn't it illegal to copy money?ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!

A few days later.

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?ABBOTT: Click on "START".............

I have a certain sympathy for closeted gay men and lesbians. I think that being so deeply ashamed of a part of yourself that's so fundamental, and that you can do nothing to change, must be close to unbearable; and the knowledge that coming clean would involve not only admitting that you're gay, but also that you have lied for years to people you care about, and who trust you, would only make it that much worse. But my sympathy vanishes when it comes to people who support amending the Constitution to ban gay marriage, as Craig did. There are limits to what you get to do to protect your own secrets, and being willing to permanently destroy gay men and lesbians' chances to marry the people they love, and with whom they have found happiness, is way, way outside them.

(For the record, I don't have much sympathy for straight people who support this idiotic and mean-spirited amendment either.)

Reading the arrest report, I wonder what did Craig do that was so illegal or lewd: tapping his foot? Running his fingers along the edge of the stall divider?These may be signals that one is trolling for sex, but did any sex occur? Did any members flash? Not according to the police report. There must be more to the story.

What is the news tag here? Why are Craig's personal sexual habits making the front page? Simple. Craig used his position as a U.S. senator to vote against laws that would secure the rights of gay men and lesbians. In addition to supporting the Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, he voted against a bill that would have banned job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, against expanding the definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation. And he cruised for gay sex in airport restrooms.

"Wide Stance" Craig, one of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's top Senate supporters, serving as a Senate liaison for the campaign since February has quit the Romney campaign. As word spread of Craig's guilty plea, a Romney campaign spokesman, Matt Rhoades, said in a statement: "Senator Craig has stepped down from his role with the campaign. He did not want to be a distraction and we accept his decision."

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A police officer in President Bush's motorcade crashed his motorcycle and died Monday, less than a year after a crash in Hawaii killed another motorcycle officer accompanying the president.

Rio Rancho Officer Germaine Casey, 40, crashed at the Albuquerque airport at a point where a road enters an underground parking garage, said Trish Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department. He was pronounced dead at an Albuquerque hospital.

Bush and his motorcade had been headed to the airport after attending a fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

A man recently rescued by authorities, is now behind bars. It's a strange twist on a story first posted here Wednesday night.

Wednesday night, emergency workers pulled a man from a sinkhole just off the Galloway Creek Greenways Trail near Lone Pine and Battlefield.

He told rescuers he had been in the hole since some time Tuesday. He was treated for dehydration, but otherwise was not seriously injured.

Many people wondered how he fell into the 25 foot deep hole. Now, Springfield law officers think they know the answer.

"A couple of nights ago there was a search warrant being executed on west side of town," explains Springfield police Lt. Jay Huff. "The man we were looking for wasn't there, but he was seen in the area, turned around and drove away. There was a short chase, but they discontinued because he accelerated very rapidly and they didn't want to cause any other problems," Huff says.

Now police believe Russell David Metcalf, 45, hid from police that night along the Galloway Trail, and fell into the hole in the dark. More than 24 hours later, someone heard his cries for help and he was pulled to safety.

Then Thursday night around 8:00 pm, authorities were once again trying to find the man they had a federal arrest warrant for. The man took cover at the home of a friend in north Springfield. Negotiators with the ATF eventually talked him out of the house after a two-hour standoff. That man was Russell David Metcalf.

Springfield police say Metcalf is a long time resident of Springfield. The federal warrant was for being a felon in possessionof a firearm. Metcalf was originally convicted in 1990 of two felony drug charges.

What a twist! You can't make stuff up like this!

A side note: sources tell us the bottom of the sinkhole Metcalf fell into was full of raw sewage and he was covered in sewage when he was rescued. Apparently he not only didn't know his a** from a hole in the ground but he was full of s**t too.

The city is going to spend a million dollars to upgrade the square so a developer can make more money? And they can't afford to put a privy on a trail so a man doesn't have to fall into a hole in the ground?How many men fell into the Heer's building lately? ZERO!How many men fell into a hole in the ground on the Galloway Creek Greenway Trail? ONE!How many photos in the SN-L of men standing around or climbing out of sinkholes in the last week? TWOWhat is more important? Protecting us from sinkholes or selling the Heer's building?

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell confirmed for the first time that the private sector assisted with President Bush's warrantless surveillance program. AT&T, Verizon and other telecommunications companies are being sued for their cooperation. "Now if you play out the suits at the value they're claimed, it would bankrupt these companies," McConnell said, arguing that they deserve immunity for their help.

The constitution be damned, if you ain't doing nothing to worry about, you ain't got nothing to worry about.

At the end of the interview, McConnell cautioned reporter Chris Roberts that he should consider whether enemies of the U.S. could gain from the information he just shared in the interview.

Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is a flight attendant for a small Mexican airline, the latest step down for her career in the airline industry. Despite the low pay, the job enables her to smuggle money from Mexico into the United States for Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), a gun runner under the close eye of the ATF.Early in the film, Robbie learns that another of his workers, Beaumont Livingston (Chris Tucker), has been arrested and, fearing that he will talk to authorities in order to avoid jail time, Robbie arranges for Livingston’s bail and shoots him. Acting on information Livingston had indeed shared, ATF agents Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) and Mark Dargus (Michael Bowen) both catch Brown as she arrives in the US with Robbie’s cash. She initially refuses to deal with Nicolette and Dargus and is sent to jail pending trial.

Robbie, sensing Brown may be just as likely to inform as Livingston had been, arranges to bail her out. He returns to Max Cherry (Robert Forster), the same bail bondsman he used to arrange Livingston’s release, to bail out Brown. Cherry arranges for Brown’s bail and, only partly masking his physical attraction, offers to help her determine her legal options. Later that night, Robbie shows up at Brown’s house, presumably to eliminate her, but using a gun she stole from Cherry, she cuts a deal whereby she will pretend to help the authorities while still managing to smuggle $500,000 of Robbie’s money.

To carry out this plan, Robbie employs several others, a woman he lives with, Melanie Ralston (Bridget Fonda), his former cellmate who befriends Ralston, Louis Gara (Robert De Niro), and a naïve Southern girl, Sheronda (Lisa Gay Hamilton). With Brown’s help, Nicolette arranges a sting to catch Robbie, though Brown and Robbie plan to double cross him by diverting the actual money before Nicolette makes an arrest.

Unbeknownst to Nicolette or Robbie, Brown plans to deceive them both with the help of Cherry in order to keep the $500,000 for herself. After a dry run, during which Nicolette could observe the operation, the stage is set for the actual event. Set in an LA mall, Brown stops in a dressing room before the official exchange to swap bags with Ralston and Gara, supposedly passing off the $500,000 under Nicolette’s nose, but in fact only giving Ralston $50,000 and leaving the rest behind in the dressing room for Cherry to later pick up. Brown then feigns despair as she calls Nicolette out from hiding and claims Ralston took all the money and ran.

Though angered, Nicolette leaves assuming Robbie has escaped with the money through little fault of Brown’s. Ralston grows on Gara’s nerves, leading him to shoot her while making his escape. When Robbie later discovers that Gara has only delivered $50,000, he shoots Gara and determines that Brown had his money. Cherry and Brown ultimately lure Robbie back to Cherry’s office to claim his money, but Robbie is shot by Nicolette who was hidden in the office. The movie ends with Cherry declining Brown’s invitation to join her as she leaves the country with Robbie’s money.

This letter by Steve Helms was printed in this morning's SN-L:Personal attacks are ridiculousThere they go again (Aug. 13 Blog from defeated Democratic candidate Jim Lee). Jim talks about my last few letters to the News-leader as having a common theme, well, the common theme that liberals have in their rebuttals are ignore the issue and attack the person.

Sara Lampe wrote in a letter to this paper that we have recently cut spending on education. That was clearly wrong, spending is up. I challenged her to set the record straight, she has not. She works to pass laws that would further burden our teachers and schools with additional regulations and requirements. I disagree with her on more state control over our local schools.

Lampe stated at a Springfield Chamber of Commerce meeting that we cannot trust our local school boards in Missouri to do what is right for their students. These are issues. What does my defeat in the '06 election have to do with these?

You ask, "How can we take anything Helms says about education seriously?" Because I have not been in the education field you seek to dismiss my ideas, how arrogant. Why are you and Lampe afraid to discuss the issues in a fair and open format? Are you concerned that if the people of Missouri really know that you stand for oppressive regulation and taxation they would reject you?

I am a private citizen who has raised issues to my state representative in a public format and this is the best response that you can muster? Maybe next time you will spend the ink you get in the newspaper on the issues, not these ridiculous person slights that you have attempted.Steve Helms Springfield

Steve: You just don't get it.

We agree with you, personal attacks ARE ridiculous. That is why we will never comment about your wife, your children or your personal life unless it has a news peg.

Anything you print in public or send to my house is open to comment, fact checking, and yes, even riducule.

When we question your facts or make light of your statements, it is not a personal attack, inquiring minds want to know where you get your information.

For instance, you state that Lampe and Lee stands for "oppressive regulation and taxation " -- Where does that come from? What does that mean? Where is the documentation?

Is it a personal attack to write that Steve Helms "refuses to pay his debts" and "refuses to support our public schools." Where does that come from? What does that mean? Where is the documentation? Or perhaps it is better to say Steve Helms declared bankruptcy or Steve Helms accepted campaign donations from a leading proponent of educational vouchers. Which is more inflammatory? Which is more "baiting"? But aren't both true?

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Bought a suburban today, 1986, big enough to pull the Airstream and haul the grandsons!Now I really gotta sell a vehicle: the Malaguti is a good buy, it is a high end 49cc Italian made scooter. No license needed. A little of 3,000 kilometers. Our daughter drove it to MSU (SMSU).

This is a lengthy article from the Washington Post, but if you are following the Karl Rove saga, it is a must read.

Portions of it we have heard before, but this scoops everything else. Rove is a political genius.

I wonder if this grant (Texas County Technical Institute: Healthcare: Bolivar,MO $1,949,954) was part of the plan?

For that matter, I wonder if the money from this grant is being spent as it was allocated? Texas County Technical Institute is in Houston, MO. Bolivar Technical College is in Bolivar, although I noticed that in the Community Foundation of the Ozarks it is called Bolivar Technical Institute.

7/27/07 nur101 5 4 2 2 majority of students failed the HESI exam. 12 are in fear of not passing it the second time. making BÂ’s in the course, but failing the HESI. she has their money and if they cannot pass the HESI, then they most likely wonÂ’t pass the NCLEX.If they fail the NCLEX, it goes against the school. There must be an 80% pass rate or they go on probation. 7/16/07 FON1 3 3 3 3 Why would a technical college have a place to rate a professor? There is no such title at this college. These are instructors only. I agree with the individual who posted in May 07. This college has had serious problems. If you have attended it, you would know the problem starts at the top. Why are they allowed to continue operating in Bolivar? 5/1/07 nur101 5 1 2 5 this was the most awful excuse for school I could imagine. everything good was considered bad and everything bad was applauded. a poor attitude was rewarded and hard work was frowned upon. the rudest most unprofessional conduct was allowed & encouraged and even serious hippa violations--ignored. classwork too hard? never mind. we won't cover it. Well, that certainly was interesting!

"This will really rankle some of my Republican colleagues: Bill Clinton and Hillary went through some horrible experiences in their marriage because of some of the reckless behavior that he has admitted he had. I am not defending him on that, it's indefensible.

"Just let's not let it get lost on us that they kept their marriage together. They raised a magnificent daughter. Chelsea is truly a delightful human being. ... She's polite, thoughtful, intelligent and everything you would hope a daughter to be. But they kept their marriage together.

"And a lot of the Republicans who have condemned them and talk about their platform of family values, interestingly, didn't keep their own families together. Give Bill and Hillary Clinton credit for doing something we say they should have done and that is hold their marriage together in spite of enormous trials."

They kept their marriage together. Those Arkansas governors make sense, regardless of what political party they are beholden.Here is more on the Huckabee/Clinton conversation.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Last night I drove down to Rockaway Beach to pick up the pickup so my daughter and her husband could move the horse. On the way back I was listening to KTTS news and heard, I think, the Christian County Prosecutor talking about charges not being filed against one of the suspects who murdered this woman and hid her body in the Mark Twain Forest.The prosecutor said that evidence from the crime lab was not forthcoming in a timely manner. In essence he was told by the crime lab people, 'What homicide do you want us to not investigate while we investigate your homicide.', or words to that effect. The prosecutor than said that the Jackie Johns case was the exception to the rule. From the probable cause statement: 'On August 8, 2007, I executed a search warrant on Gerald L. Carnahan and obtained several bucchal cell swabs from the body of Carnahan. I then transported these bucchal cell swabs to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Laboratory in Jefferson City, Missouri. The crime laboratory then obtained a DNA profile for Carnahan from the bucchal cell swabs and compared this profile to the unknown profile obtained from the Jackie Johns vaginal swab. Upon comparing the two (2) samples the crime laboratory advised that Carnahan's DNA profile matched the unknown profile obtained from Jackie Johns."-- Sergeant Daniel F. Nash, Missouri State Trooper"

How about that murder in Hollister? The DNA results came back in less than two weeks.

George Bush has this fashion sense and he is also upset enough to call the reporter of an article critical of his fashion sense. It's all over the web now. Here is a link to article in question.

Actually this is pretty funny but it is also the sign of something bigger. Bush is getting mad at something he CAN control: a reporter writing about his wardrobe.

From the Washington Post:Last week, Marques Harper of the Austin American- Statesman wrote a short piece about the president's sartorial style on his Texas ranch, where Bush is spending a two-week vacation. The article was reprinted Tuesday in a Waco, Tex., paper, and the leader of the free world was not pleased.

Harper received a phone call that morning from White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino, who, Harper told friends, said the president read the article and was unhappy about the way he was portrayed.

"I was surprised," said the style writer, who declined to repeat the off-the-record conversation with Perino when we called.

Harper wrote: "The president has two distinct looks when he's in Texas: the ranch-hand man and the crisp appearance of a ranch owner. In recent months, with his sliding popularity, he's opted to look more like 'Walker, Texas Ranger' than a sweaty, tough ranch hand." In the piece, an image consultant offered that Bush needed to "step it up" to keep his "bravado image" on the ranch.

"It was a piece that looked at his ranch wear at Crawford over the years," Harper told us yesterday. "It was a fun piece. Here in Austin, I got e-mails saying, 'That was the dumbest story I ever read.' "

No laughing matter for the president, who apparently was offended that anyone would think he just dresses like a real rancher. After clearing all that brush? Never!

Here is more on Mr. Sensitive. And another piece here.The President of the United States is clearing brush. When I was growing up, the person who knew what he was doing used the axe or chain saw. The rest of us piled.

It appears that purchasing celery makes underwear elastic fail.While Pinups are not PC, they are an accepted artform from the 1950s. Here is a link to more 1950s pinups.For more on the effects of celery on underwear elastic, click here.

Friday, August 17, 2007

This bears repeating: The FBI has determined that in some cases, it's better to let innocent people be assaulted, murdered, or wrongly sent to prison than to halt a drug investigation involving one of its confidential informants.

Could Murphy assure the U.S. Congress, Delahunt and Lundgren asked, that the FBI has since instituted policies to ensure that kind of thing never happens again?

Murphy hemmed and hawed, but ultimately said that he could not make any such assurance. That in itself should have been huge news.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Dick Cheney sat transfixed by the images on the small television screen in the corner of his West Wing office. Smoke poured out of a gaping hole in the World Trade Center's North Tower. John McConnell, the vice president's chief speechwriter, sat next to him and said nothing.

Then, a second plane appeared on the right-hand side of the screen, banked slightly to the left, and plunged into the South Tower. "Did you see that?" Mr. Cheney asked his aide.

A little more than an hour later, Mr. Cheney was seated below the presidential seal at a long conference table in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, better known as the bunker. When an aide told Mr. Cheney that another passenger airplane was rapidly approaching the White House, the vice president gave the order to shoot it down. The young man was so surprised at Mr. Cheney's immediate response that he asked again. Mr. Cheney reiterated the order. Thinking that Mr. Cheney must have misunderstood the question, the military aide asked him a third time.The vice president responded evenly. "I said yes."

Andrew Card tells Bush a second plane has hit the tower and American is under attack.

Intelligence expert James Bamford describes Bush’s reaction:“Immediately [after Card speaks to Bush] an expression of befuddlement passe[s] across the president’s face. Then, having just been told that the country was under attack, the commander in chief appear[s] uninterested in further details. He never ask[s] if there had been any additional threats, where the attacks were coming from, how to best protect the country from further attacks.…

Instead, in the middle of a modern-day Pearl Harbor, he simply turn[s] back to the matter at hand: the day’s photo-op.” [Bamford, 2002, pp. 633]

Bush begins listening to a story about a goat. But despite the pause and change in children’s exercises, as one newspaper put it, “For some reason, Secret Service agents [do] not bustle him away.” [Globe and Mail, 9/12/2001]

Bush later says of the experience, “I am very aware of the cameras. I’m trying to absorb that knowledge. I have nobody to talk to. I’m sitting in the midst of a classroom with little kids, listening to a children’s story and I realize I’m the commander in chief and the country has just come under attack.” [Daily Telegraph, 12/16/2001]

Bush listens to the goat story for about ten more minutes. The reason given is that, “Without all the facts at hand, George Bush ha[s] no intention of upsetting the schoolchildren who had come to read for him.” [MSNBC, 10/29/2002]

Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport is only three and a half miles away. In fact, the elementary school was chosen for the photo-op partly because of its closeness to the airport. [Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 9/12/2002] Why the Secret Service does not move Bush away from his publicized location that morning remains unclear.

Oh, it gets better, the article says that Cheney will increase his role in the Bush administration in spite of his low approval ratings. The reason Cheney has low approval ratings is, according to the article, because he keeps such a low profile.

Here's the money quote:As the White House enters a critical domestic phases of the war on terror--with a heightened threat environment and the coming report from Gen. David Petraeus on progress in Iraq--Mr. Cheney may be called on to play a more public role. That may seem counterintuitive. If Mr. Cheney's approval ratings are so abysmal, why increase his visibility? The answer is simple: because his low poll numbers are the result of his low profile.

The article was written to champion Cheney but instead it paints Bush as a weak president who is led by his vice president.

A while back, and I am trying to find it, I read an article about Bush and the Texas Rangers and the oil companies he owned. How when the things got going rough, he walked away from them. He has 17 months or so left of president. I wonder if he wishes he could just walk away from it. Yeah, move on down the road.

During his news conference on Thursday, President Bush addressed the Iranian people directly. “My message to the Iranian people is, ‘You can do better than this current government,’ ” Mr. Bush said. “ ‘You don’t have to be isolated. You don’t have to be in a position where you can’t realize your full economic potential.’ ”

How come Bush isn't telling us that also?

Instead we get this:U.S. To Expand Domestic Use of Spy Satellites. "The U.S.'s top intelligence official has greatly expanded the range of federal and local authorities who can get access to information from the nation's vast network of spy satellites in the U.S.

"The decision, made three months ago by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, places for the first time some of the U.S.'s most powerful intelligence-gathering tools at the disposal of domestic security officials. The move was authorized in a May 25 memo sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking his department to facilitate access to the spy network on behalf of civilian agencies and law enforcement.

"Sometime next year, officials will examine how the satellites can aid federal and local law-enforcement agencies, covering both criminal and civil law. The department is still working on determining how it will engage law enforcement officials and what kind of support it will give them.

"Coming on the back of legislation that upgraded the administration's ability to wiretap terrorist suspects without warrants, the development is likely to heat up debate about the balance between civil liberties and national security"

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

I was surfing the web this morning, reading the political blogs about Karl Rove's resignation. One website, Politico.com has a posting about the best of Karl Rove. In this posting we have the opportunity to see a Dan Rather / Karl Rove interaction from 1972 during an interview with CREEP.

But the most amazing thing was about halfway through the story, was the banner displayed above.

That's it, not a clue as to the five Ws: who, what, where, when, why. I suspect it might be a quote from Rove as later in the article another banner headling says

Pretty much the same thing and it is attributed as a Rove quote in the description of the jpeg as is the quote from the News-Leader.

I wonder if the writer of this blog, the politico.com, has a Springfield connection.I am going to email him and try to find out. I will keep you posted.

The blog posting was written by the Politico staff. I found an email address for David Kuhn, one of the staff members, and emailed him the following:David,In the posting, "The Best of Karl Rove", written by Politico staff, there is a quote from the Springfield News-Leader: "Democrats stand for little or nothing except for mere obstructionism." Springfield News-Leader 2006.I live in Springfield and I write a blog (http://bus-plunge.blogspot.com). I would like to contact the writer of this piece to find out how the News-Leader quote was selected. Does one of your staffer have a Springfield connection? I was pleasantly surprised to see the SN-L quote and I emailed it to our editorial page editor, Tony Messenger Could you please forward this message to the appropriate person and get back to me.Thank you.

I will keep you posted.

The quote came from a Gannett News Service column by Chuck Raasch. It wasn’t unique to the News-Leader. It was a syndicated column. Here is the link. The highlighted quote is near the end of the article, which was published on 05.18.2006.

Monday, August 13, 2007

JEFFERSON CITY – Gov. Matt Blunt today issued the following statement on United States Attorney Catherine Hanaway’s action against immigration fraud:

“I strongly commend United States Attorney Catherine Hanaway and her professional staff for highly committed and vigorous enforcement of the federal laws against immigration fraud. Because of Nathan Cooper’s necessary resignation for serious criminal misconduct, I will take the appropriate steps to set a special election to ensure representation for the people of the district.

“At the state level of enforcement, I will continue this Administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, including any use of unlawful immigrants by state contractors.”

But it appears that Hanaway recused herself because she had known Cooper while she was Speaker of the House.

She also recused herself in the fee office investigation that played a role in the firing of the US attorneys that has recently garnered so much attention.

U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway made clear to Post-Dispatch reporter Robert Patrick that she had no involvement in the investigation of fellow Republican and former ally, soon-to-be-former state Rep. Nathan Cooper, R-Cape Girardeau.

In an earlier posting, I asked what other reason could there be for Representative Blunt making a statement on the senseless shootings in Neosho. I think I answered my own question.

The elephant in the room is this: Why are the Blunts doing this? Roy B. gets by with a prepared statement, Little Matt goes there in person. Is it compassion? Is it for the victims? Does a shooting at a church in Neosho deserve more compassion than, oh I don't know, risking the lives of thousands of Missourians by taking away their access to health care or voting to fund an unwarranted war in Irag where 3,000 or more Americans have died? Yes? No? Am I comparing apples to oranges? Or is there a disconnect in their actions?

This is unfair to the Blunts. They are leaders in our state and they obviously have some compassion for the victims of this senseless and horrible tragedy in Neosho, at least I hope they do. I just wish....

In this bitterly divided country (read Andrew Sullivan's post on Karl Rove), the only thing we have that unites us is tragedy and even that is fleeting.

The boss of a Chinese toy firm involved in a huge safety recall has committed suicide, Chinese media has said. Zhang Shuhong, who co-owned the Lee Der Toy Company, was reportedly found dead at his factory in southern China.

About 1.5 million toys made for Fisher Price, a subsidiary of US giant Mattel, were withdrawn from sale earlier this month. Many were made by Lee Der.

The recalled toys include characters from Sesame Street's Big Bird and Elmo, and Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer.

Zhang killed himself on Saturday, according to the Southern Metropolitan Daily and other news sources.

He reportedly hanged himself in his factory.

"When I rushed there around 5pm, police had already sealed off the area," the newspaper quoted a manager at the firm as saying. "I saw that our boss had two deep marks in his neck."

The news report did not give a reason for Zhang's apparent suicide, but Lee Der was known to be under pressure after the huge product recall.

Fisher Price announced on 2 August that it was recalling some of Lee Der's Chinese-made toys, in a move affecting 83 product-types sold around the world, including the US and the UK.

An internal investigation found the toys had been made using a non-approved paint pigment which contained excessive amounts of lead, violating safety standards.

A manager at Lee Der blamed its paint supplier for the incident, according to the Southern Metropolitan Daily.

Chinese-made products have come under increasing international scrutiny in recent months, after a series of safety scandals.

Note: While the BBC reports the name of the toy company as Lee Der, American news reports report the name as Lida.

DEPARTMENT No Comment BY Scott Horton PUBLISHED August 12, 2007 Last winter, making arrangements for a law of armed conflict conference I was putting together with some friends from West Point and Princeton, I had a lunch with one of the former SACEURs (Supreme Allied Commander Europe) I was hoping to bring in as a keynote speaker. He started talking about Dick Cheney. “I read the statement that Brent Scowcroft made, where he said ‘I don’t recognize this Dick Cheney’ and thought ‘how true.’ I also knew and worked with Dick Cheney for years. He was alert, serious, sober and cautious. And nothing at all like this man who sits in the White House today. It’s enough to get one thinking about the ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers.’ Something happened.”

Well, maybe the something is the physical and psychological consequences of a heart attack and a series of microstrokes. They are capable of having life and thought-changing consequences for their victims, and as Jon Stewart recently reminded us, Dick Cheney and Larry King together could keep a ward of cardiologists going full time. Or maybe we’ll ultimately learn that Dick Cheney really is the Manchurian Candidate. Who knows. One thing’s for certain: he’s not the old Dick Cheney.

So here’s a terrific YouTube: a glimpse at the old Dick Cheney. The one who was mentally alert, intelligent and objective. And not at all like the delusional figure who currently directs foreign and national security policy for our dauphin-president. In an appearance at the American Enterprise Institute from April 15, 1994, Cheney explains that invading Baghdad would have been a bad decision—it would have produced a quagmire and would have cost us the support of key allies. He got that right.

"I call that Neosho church shooting senseless, but I didn't actually say it, my staff put it out in a prepared statement that they sent to newspapers all across the state so I can get some mileage out of this thing. Now, excuse me buddy, I got to see a man about a dog."

Three people were killed and several were wounded when someone opened fire at First Congregational Church.

“Today’s shooting in Neosho was as depraved as it was senseless, an act of extreme and unprovoked violence by an individual with reckless indifference to human life,” Blunt’s statement said.

“Our thoughts and prayers are foremost with the families who lost loved ones on Sunday, as we also recognize and honor the men and women of Neosho and Newton County who willfully put themselves in the line of fire to rescue their friends and neighbors,” the statement said.

Two things about this article found on the SN-L website, Ozarks Now, jumped out at me:

1. That a politician would insert himself into this tragedy with an unsolicited news release. It was a "prepared statement". All of us who watched the news of this episode as it unfolded realized that it was horrendous and a senseless act of violence. We didn't need our US Representative to tell us that. Isn't every shooting like this senseless? This kind of thing is not supposed to happen in a church. Funny, we almost expect in schools, what with the security badges, hall passes, metal detectors and school police. But we never expected in a house of the Lord. For Blunt to feed off of this tragedy is self-serving and unnecessary. In issuing this "prepared statement", Blunt shows himself to be only interested in the political payoff he can collect from this tragedy. What other reason could there be? The only thing missing from the prepared statement is a photo of Roy B.

Been down at the cabin in Rockaway Beach, sitting on the deck, drinking cold beverages and floating on the boat.

Got back this morning and found out Karl Rove has resigned effective August 31, 2007.

Wow, is he the master of spin!Karl Rove Shows America What He Really Thinks of US.

Wonder if he will honor the subpoena he got from congress now.

Rove said he was not forced out. "It seems the right time to start thinking about the next chapter in our family's life," Rove said, his voice breaking. Karl wants to spend more time with his family? We all know what that means.

But this article by Frank Rich, New York Times July 17, 2005 has this money quote: Seasoned audiences of presidential scandal know that there's only one certainty ahead: the timing of a Karl Rove resignation. As always in this genre, the knight takes the fall at exactly that moment when it's essential to protect the king.

Andrew Sullivan, of The Daily Dish:The man's legacy is a conservative movement largely discredited and disunited, a president with lower consistent approval ratings than any in modern history, a generational shift to the Democrats, a resurgent al Qaeda, an endless catastrophe in Iraq, a long hard struggle in Afghanistan, a fiscal legacy that means bankrupting America within a decade, and the poisoning of American religion with politics and vice-versa. For this, he got two terms of power - which the GOP used mainly to enrich themselves, their clients and to expand government's reach and and drain on the productive sector. In the re-election, the president with a relatively strong economy, and a war in progress, managed to eke out 51 percent. Why? Because Rove preferred to divide the country and get his 51 percent, than unite it and get America's 60. In a time of grave danger and war, Rove picked party over country. Such a choice was and remains despicable.

Rove is one of the worst political strategists in recent times. He took a chance to realign the country and to unite it in a war - and threw it away in a binge of hate-filled niche campaigning, polarization and short-term expediency. His divisive politics and elevation of corrupt mediocrities to every branch of government has turned an entire generation off the conservative label. And rightly so. It will take another generation to recover from the toxins he has injected, with the president's eager approval, into the political culture and into the conservative soul.

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About Me

I've got opinions about dang near everything. Not only that, I'm retired so I've got the time to tell you them. I keep my mouth shut and my ears open and read a lot. Sometimes I add 2 + 2 and get 5, sometimes I add 2 + 2 and get 4. I strive to abide by the "Fina Philosophy" that "Old Lonesome George" espoused: Work hard, sell a good product, don't try to kid anybody.

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